This talk was given for the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction annual conference. Knowing in advance that I would be speaking alongside the fabled Jason Scott, I intentionally raised my eccentricity game, turning up at Harvard Law School with vivid purple hair, the crowning touch on the purple dress, purple hosiery, and purple shoes I had packed for the keynote. Since I wasn’t speaking until the second day of the conference, and law librarianship was not (previous to this talk) an area in which I am known, I wandered the halls the first day watching all the sidelong nonplussed glances with amusement. I enjoy conference anonymity, all the more because it is somewhat rare for me after a decade of public speaking.
My anonymity disappeared the next morning, of course, but all in a good cause. I am very serious in my concern about what librarianship expects of itself with respect to technology; Purple Squirrel kicked off productive conversations.